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Nearly half of U.S. state and local governments have started or are planning Cloud projects, new Unisys survey shows

Date:
Thu, 11/21/2013 - 23:32 Source: Unisys press department

Government IT leaders cite potential hardware and software capital and maintenance cost savings as top reason for cloud adoption

Crystal Cooper, vice president of public sector solutions at Unisys

Image credited to Unisys

Nearly half of U.S. state and local government IT business leaders surveyed say they are planning or are currently engaged in cloud computing endeavors, according to new survey results announced by Unisys Corporation.
Recent Unisys-sponsored research, conducted by the Center for Digital Government and announced at the NASCIO 2013 Annual Conference, found that 32 percent of government IT professionals surveyed said their state or municipality is migrating to a cloud computing environment, with an additional 14 percent reporting they are currently planning to do so. Of the 109 respondents, 42 percent said their jurisdictions had not implemented a cloud offering and were not planning to.
Nearly a quarter of respondents cited hardware and software capital and maintenance cost savings as their number one reason for moving to the cloud. In addition, about one-fifth of respondents said the ability to meet the demands of a growing mobile workforce was their top reason for cloud adoption, with 46 percent of all respondents reporting they have or are planning to implement mobility or bring-your-own-device programs.
The survey also found that security remains a concern for governments contemplating a move to the cloud. When asked about the key barriers to adopting the cloud, 71 percent of respondents cited data security. The other two most cited barriers were “integration with existing systems” and “regulatory compliance,” cited by 42 percent and 40 percent of respondents, respectively.
“This survey illustrates that U.S. state and local government IT professionals are beginning to see the benefits of moving to the cloud, with many taking the first steps to obtain the cost savings and efficiencies the cloud offers,” said Crystal Cooper, vice president of public sector solutions at Unisys. “Despite continued concerns about cloud security, agencies are recognizing that the cloud can help them reduce costs, adopt mobile devices into their organizations, and modernize old legacy software applications. We expect to see increased focus on cloud projects through contracts such as theWestern States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) cloud hosting services vehicle held by Unisys”
Of those respondents who reported they have cloud projects underway or plans to move to the cloud, 70 percent said they are looking to the cloud to host web applications, while 60 percent said they would use the cloud for data storage. Forty percent said they are moving their email to the cloud.
The Center for Digital Government conducted the survey for Unisys in July and August 2013. It went out to 109 U.S. state and local government professionals in 18 states located across the country and in a variety of business areas including finance, law enforcement, and health and human services.